But Congressmen and the executive honestly think that they're listening to "the smart people" right now, for the most part. When they consider copyright issues

But Congressmen and the executive honestly think that they're listening to "the smart people" right now, for the most part. When they consider copyright issues, they listen to the smart people who run record companies and movie studios. When they consider energy policy, they listen to the smart people who run oil companies. (Big oil was in charge of the Gulf oil spill cleanup because the government genuinely didn't have the expertise.) When they consider finance, they listen to the smart people who run the banks. And so forth. Or so they say --- and you can call it rationalization for cashing their lobbyists' large checks, but I think they honestly believe it regardless. After all, these folks do have a record of achievement in their fields, and how else is a Congressman to judge? What we need is a better answer to that question, which has measures for expertise other than "they made a lot of money at it." Unfortunately, it's hard to see anything like Adams's proposal, of explicit preferential treatment for the rich, as being a step in that direction.